Kamikaze (Last Call #1) (4 page)

He rolled over on his side and pulled her
close to his chest. “Wouldn’t dream of going anywhere.”

The wolf woke her.

For a moment Zoe felt disoriented, unsure
how she’d come to be curled in decadently expensive sheets with a
very strong, very male body curled around her. Their scents were so
entwined she could barely separate them, something that pleased the
wolf immensely.

She had no idea what time it was. The room
held no windows, and the small clock on the bedside table was
turned away -- deliberately, she imagined. The longer she stayed,
after all, the more money they made.

She stretched slowly, ignoring the desire
uncurling inside her. It was weak compared to the frantic need of
last night, a gentle longing instead of a desperate ache.

The fact that it had faded at all surprised
her. John had struggled to satisfy her hunger last time, but his
creativity and stamina had worn thin by the end of the second day.
Considering how much worse it had been this time, she’d expected it
to take days for the wolf to grow satisfied.

Her stomach rumbled, and desire took a back
seat to another need. She tried to wiggle away, but Connor’s arms
tightened slightly, and she froze, torn between conflicting
hungers.

“
What time is it?” His
voice was drowsy and hoarse from sleep.

“
Don’t know --” She twisted
around and nuzzled her face against his chest. “Hungry,
though.”

Connor laughed. “For food?”

She liked his laugh, and the way it rumbled
through his chest. She kissed a spot just below his collarbone and
then scored it with her teeth. “That, too.”

He raised his head and blinked at her. “They
do room service, you know.”

“
Mmm.” She kissed the top
of his shoulder and shifted up the bed until her nose bumped
against his neck. The sharp, masculine scent was still there, mixed
with sweat and sex and her own scent. The wolf quieted, content
that her mate bore her scent as a warning to others. Zoe kissed his
throat and then lifted her head. “I want steak.”

“
How do you want it?” he
asked, grinning wickedly as he reached for the sleek black
telephone beside the bed.

Zoe wrinkled her nose at him.
“There’s enough of
me
in
here now that I’d like it medium-well, thank you. Anyway, she’s not
hungry for food.”

Connor slapped the phone to his ear. “Thank
God. Mooing steak kills my appetite.” He pressed the single button
on the phone and arched an eyebrow. “Booze? Chocolate?”

She was distracted by the way
his chest vibrated when he talked. “Chocolate
and
booze,” she murmured, rubbing her
cheek against his chest before shifting lower. “Champagne.
Something bubbly.”

The muscles of his stomach tightened under
her touch. He ordered quickly, his voice tense, and tossed the
phone to the floor after he’d hung up. “Are you having fun?”

She was having a
lot
of fun. She teased
her tongue across his abdomen and then turned to press her cheek
against his stomach, staring up the length of his body at his face.
“Tell me about your job. You do security? What kind?”

“
Electronic, mostly.” He
stretched a little and stroked her hair. “The owner needs magical
wards, but he also needs a regular, run-of-the-mill security
system. That’s what I do.”

She leaned into his caressing
fingers with a soft noise of pleasure. “A hunky brilliant techie
werewolf with a dirty mind…”
I’m in love.
“That’s pretty much the hottest thing
ever.”

Connor laughed. “I was brilliant and techie
before the werewolf thing. I still don’t know if I’d add hunky to
the list or not.”

“
Mmm…” She rose to her
knees and inched up the bed, a wicked smile curling her lips. “No
one asked you.”

She didn’t give him a chance to reply. She’d
mostly forgotten the food, but it wasn’t the wolf that made her
swing her leg over his chest. She straddled him, her hands braced
on the bed on either side of his thighs, and let her breath feather
over his mostly-erect cock. “I wonder how long it takes the food to
get here.”

He half-groaned and thrust up a little. “Not
long. The kitchen staff’s very good. Very efficient.”

“
Too bad… I don’t have much
practice at this, so I won’t be done by the time they get here.”
She licked around the thick head and then drew it between her lips,
sucking softly.

He made a choked noise, and his hand landed
on her thigh. “Don’t be so sure,” he rasped.

Desire flooded her, and she
rocked her hips down against his chest with a soft whimper and
sucked harder for several seconds before lifting her head and
rolling away from him. “God, no -- we have to eat first, or I’ll
kill us both if it gets bad again --” But the ache between her legs
made her feel so damn
empty
…

He sat up and stroked a comforting hand over
her belly. “It won’t get that bad again. Not right away,
anyhow.”

She felt heat creep into her
cheeks and
knew
she was blushing. “I hope not. I mean, I always figured I
was fairly unselfconscious about sex, but some of the stuff I was
trying to get you to do to me could make me blush so hard I hurt
something.”

“
Why?” His fingers traced
absent circles on her skin as he watched her face. “I wanted to do
it.”

Heat followed in the wake of his fingers,
rippling outwards in gentle tingles that tightened her nipples and
magnified the soft, aching need. She wanted to arch up, to guide
his fingers down until they stroked her clit and then pushed inside
her. She wanted to watch his face, to see the heat in those dark
eyes as he sent her spiraling into bliss.

Most of all she wanted him to
need her as desperately as she needed him. Wanted the
man
to want the
woman
, because there was no doubt in her at all that their
wolves would happily spend forever together.

Connor sighed, then tilted his head as his
hand stilled. “Why are we still here, Zoe?”

She fought back a whimper.
“W–what do you mean?”
Oh God, you’re going to leave, please don’t leave
--
She sank
her teeth into her lower lip to keep the pleas from tumbling
out.

“
I mean you’re paying an
arm and a leg for this. Why?” He wrapped a lock of her hair around
his finger. For the first time, he looked a little nervous. “I’m
not an axe murderer, and neither are you. Why don’t we get out of
here?”

She could barely breathe. “Y-you
want to come home with me?” She could fill her apartment with his
scent, wrap herself in it long after he was gone.
And maybe convince
him to come back…

“
We could go to my place
instead,” he suggested. “It’s up to you.”

She couldn’t quite keep her gaze from
darting to the cabinet in the corner, the one presumably full of
naughty items meant to enhance pleasure. She licked her lips
nervously and then looked back at him. “I’m not exactly stocked for
illicit thrills.”

He tugged her hair gently and flashed her a
smile. “Careful what you pick. They’ll charge you for taking it,
you know.”

The naughty little smile, the amused look in
his eyes -- desire sprang into full, powerful life and she moaned
as it thundered through her. A whimper escaped her as her hips
lifted off the bed in a silent plea.

Connor shrugged one shoulder and walked his
fingers down over her belly. “Or we could stay here a while
longer…”

A discreet knock sounded on the
door, and Zoe groaned in protest.
Go away --

Connor was already climbing off the bed and
reaching for his pants. “Unless you like putting on a show, you
might want to crawl under the covers.”

Her limbs felt shaky as she dragged the
blanket aside and pulled it up over her body -- and over her head
for good measure. Even the soft, silken slide of the duvet cover
against her skin made her want to whimper, and she muffled a
frustrated noise against the pillow as she listened to Connor’s
footsteps crossing the room.

She listened as Connor made small talk with
the woman at the door, then heard the slight squeak of wheels as
the room service cart rolled across the carpet. “Ready for
dinner?”

She opened her mouth to say no, but the
smell of steak hit her and hunger surfaced again. She tugged back
the blankets and popped her head out, then made an annoyed noise
and blew at the hair in her face. “Food. I could handle food.”

“
You
need
food,” Connor corrected as he tugged a
silver serving dome from one of the plates. “Want to eat on the
bed, or grab some chairs?”

“
Clothes…” Zoe crawled to
the edge of the bed and found his shirt. It smelled of him, a scent
she was beginning to find extremely comforting. “Can I wear
this?”

“
Hell, eat naked if you
want.” His teeth scored his bottom lip for a moment, and he ducked
his head and smiled as she slid the shirt on. “It looks good on
you, though.”

He was fucking
adorable
. She crossed the room and slipped her arms around his
waist. “You could wear mine if you want. It’s very geek
chic.”

“
Nah. I’d rather be
bare-chested and manly.” He bent his head and nibbled her jaw and
then her ear. “Besides, your shirt might be a little
small.”

She shivered and closed her eyes. “We need
to eat before I get all crazy again. I don’t know how this is
supposed to work, but I sort of don’t want to stop touching
you.”

He stroked the back of her neck and pulled
away. “You have to eat.” He dragged two chairs from their spots by
the wall and situated them on either side of the cart. “Voila.”

Zoe gave hearty thanks for the
fact that she made a healthy living at her job as she settled into
the chair. The steaks looked delicious and expensive, and she could
only imagine how much the bottle of champagne and exquisite little
chocolate truffles would cost. And as hungry as she was -- she
didn’t
care
.

The steak proved to be as good as it looked.
She ate a quarter of it in silence, satisfying the angry rumble in
her stomach before she sat back and picked up the glass of
champagne. “So how long have you been a werewolf?”

She might have imagined the shadow that
passed over his features, but his hesitation as he lifted his fork
to his mouth was unmistakable. “Fifteen years.”

Zoe took a bracing sip of her champagne.
“I’m sorry. That was -- I don’t mean to pry. I really don’t know
much. John -- he talked about things like packs and groups, but he
never wanted to introduce me to anyone else.”

“
He probably didn’t want to
have to look for another girlfriend after someone stole you.”
Connor reached for his wine. “I became a werewolf my last year of
high school. Senior trip, actually.”

She took another sip of the
champagne, draining half of the glass this time. “It was -- bad?”
The minute the question left her she wanted to groan. Of course it
had been bad. She of all people knew there weren’t very many
nice
ways to become
infected with lycanthropy.

He shrugged one shoulder. “I was attacked
and left for dead in a canyon in Arizona.” The corner of his mouth
kicked up. “To say I’d had better days is a bit of an
understatement.”

“
Oh, God --” She set the
glass down and reached across the makeshift table to touch his
hand. “I’m so sorry, Connor. That’s -- it’s terrible.”

He shook his head as he wove his fingers
through hers. “It was a long time ago. What about you?”

She tightened her fingers a little around
his hand. “There’s a park a couple blocks from my apartment. It’s a
pretty safe area. I mean, at least safe from muggers and shit. Less
so from werewolves I guess. John -- I worked with John. I was out
for three days and he came to visit me. Saw what was going on, that
I was healing too fast and that I felt so fucked up…”

And then she’d almost thrown him
out of the apartment when he’d calmly attempted to explain to her
that she was a werewolf and going to sprout fur with the next full
moon. Even a year and a half later, sometimes it seemed
absurd
.

“
Not so long ago,
then?”